blance to _esprits follets_.

Cassian,[273] who had studied deeply the lives of the fathers of the
desert, and who had been much with the hermits or anchorites of Egypt,
speaking of divers sorts of demons, mentions some which they commonly
called _fauns_ or _satyrs_, which the pagans regard as kinds of
divinities of the fields or groves, who delighted, not so much in
tormenting or doing harm to mankind, as in deceiving and fatiguing
them, diverting themselves at their expense, and sporting with their
simplicity.[274]

Pliny[275] the younger had a freed-man named Marcus, a man of letters,
who slept in the same bed with his brother, who was younger than
himself. It seemed to him that he saw a person sitting on the same
bed, who was cutting off his hair from the crown of his head. When he
awoke, he found his head shorn of hair, and his hair thrown on the
ground in the middle of the chamber. A little time after, the same
thing happened to a youth who slept with several others at a school.
This one saw two men dressed in white come in at the window, who cut
off his hair as he slept, and then went out by the same window: on
awaking, he found his hair scattered about on the floor. To what can
these things be attributed, if not to an elf?

Plotinus,[276] a Platonic philosopher, had, it is said, a familiar
demon, who obeyed him from the moment he called him, and was superior
in his nature to the common genii; he was of the order of gods, and
Plotinus paid continual attention to this divine guardian. This it was
which led him to undertake a work on the demon which belongs to each
of us in particular. He endeavors to explain the difference between
the genii which watch over men.

Trithemius, in his Chronicon Hirsauginse,[277] under the year 1130,
relates that in the diocese of Hildesheim, in Saxony, they saw for
some time a spirit which they called in German _heidekind_, as if they
would say _rural genius_, _heide_ signifying vast country, _kind_,
child (or boy). He appeared sometimes in one form, sometimes in
another; and sometimes, without appearing at all, he did several
things by which he proved both his presence and his power. He chose
sometimes to give very important advice to those in power; and often
he has been seen in the bishop's kitchen, helping the cooks and doing
sundry jobs.

A young scullion, who had grown familiar with him, having offered him
some insults, he warned the head cook of it, who made light of it,